1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus and an ink jet recording method and, in particular, to a drying technique which prevents the occurrence of waving and wrinkling of paper after recording.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of drying paper on which an image is formed while transporting the paper using a chain gripper is known (JP2011-173337A). In this method, even stiff thick paper can be stably transported without contact with a drying unit caused by jumping or the like. In addition, in a case where a flat transport guide is used as the chain gripper, the transport guide can be fixed without necessarily being driven. Therefore, a cooling device such as a water cooling device can be easily mounted on the transport guide, and thus a heater having a large heat capacity can be mounted as a drying unit. Therefore, this method is advantageous in drying paper within a short period of time without damages.
However, in a case where an image is formed on thin paper using an aqueous ink, water in the ink permeates into the paper, which causes elongation in the paper. Therefore, three-dimensional waving occurs in the paper, and thus the printing quality deteriorates.
On the other hand, by suctioning paper to a transport guide and drying the paper while maintaining the paper in a flat shape, the occurrence of waving in the paper can be reduced. JP2014-073658A describes a technique in which a back tension applying mechanism includes a guide plate and a suction mechanism that sucks air through suction holes formed on the guide plate, the back tension applying mechanism applying back tension to paper P which is transported while a leading end of the paper P is gripped by a chain gripper.